Fantasy Wrestling. You should try it.

I had always wanted to get into a fantasy wrestling league. For years, I had heard of them, but struggled to find the opportunity. I had a decent track record, having won fantasy football, baseball, and basketball to this point. Some might say I was simply looking for a new challenge, but I know in all reality that I just wanted to add a new wrinkle to the greatest sport known to man. To add affiliations where there weren’t any before. To add intrigue to matches and duals that I wouldn’t have followed before. To add layers to this sport, and challenge my ability to follow it, and think critically about where I would find value.

Now that I’m writing this, it helps put perspective on some things. Just like a traditional fantasy team, there are trades, and free agent pick ups, and strategy, and checking schedules like a lunatic, and all sorts of weirdness. I finally get to approach the wrestling season like the GM of a sports franchise. Fantasy wrestling is a delicate balance though. There is both a regular season championship to consider (which in my leagues, comes with paying back your entry fee, so less prestigious) and a post season championship (that’s where the majority of the loot, and prestige comes from). With two championships, and only one of them (the post season) coming with a championship belt, it’s important to balance your team. For example, simply having the #1 ranked wrestler at each weight, or a top 10 guy, isn’t always going to bring the success you’d like. For example, Stevan Micic has been ranked either 3, 2 or 1, by most publications, for the entire season, and yet he’s wrestled 13 matches on the season to this point. Whereas someone like Matt Stencel of CMU, is 22-4, and has more pins than Micic has total matches, so his regular season value is great! The trick though, like most fantasy leagues, is finding value in the draft position. It would be foolish of me to assume that Stencel would end up with similar post season placement as Micic, but I'm happy with the draft choice to this point.

Anyway, my point to this is simply that you need to come up with a crew who is committed to this, and do it. Through Trackwrestling, and other outlets, you can track each individual wrestlers performances, and keep track of your scoring. Similar to the sport, fantasy wrestling requires more dedication and effort than the other sports, but is significantly more rewarding. I don’t really have much more to add at this point. I’d share with you the points leaders at this point, and all that, but it doesn’t really matter until March. Hopefully my regular season performance can transition into the post season, and I’ll be including a picture of me wearing a championship belt or two with the next edition of this. That being said, I want to also should out Brandon Olinger, and Chris Christian, who so kindly invited me into their leagues, and track the movements and scoring. Fantasy Wrestling. You should try it.